LANCASTER, Pa. (CBS) - A Federal Election Commission analysis says that presidential campaign donations from Pennsylvania are nearly split between President Obama and his Republican challengers.

Pennsylvanians donated just over $3 million during the first three-quarters of this year. President Obama collected $1.5 million of that; the rest was divided among 10 Republican challengers.

And the donation levels are critically important.

“The president is literally in a battle for his life in the state,” says Franklin and Marshall College political science professor Terry Madonna. He says the split in donations mean that Obama has a lot of work to do in the Commonwealth.

“Down in the Philly suburbs, where he did very well [in the 2008 election], now we are finding that they [voters] have a more negative view than positive view, and the fundraising is just an illustration of that,” Madonna tells KYW Newsradio.